30 Day Experiment - Voluntary Simplicity
- 30 Day Experiment - Voluntary Simplicity
- Week 2 of No Soda or Candy
A week or two ago I wrote a post about sinful indulgence and how good it feels to indulge only rarely instead of every day. Writing that post got me thinking about my lifestyle and what would it be like to not indulge at all, EVER. I’ve always believed that a healthy life does not necessarily mean giving up the occasional unhealthy pleasure, but is this true? Do I hold on to these unhealthy indulgences as a way of rewarding myself with true pleasure or are there better things in life that I could be rewarding myself with? Would I miss these occasional pleasures or would I eventually get used to their absence and move on with my life? That is, does even an occasional indulgence count as a habit? Would I really miss chocolate if it was gone from my life or can I simply not conceive of that possibility right now because I’m so used to it?
So for my 30 day experiment for this month I have decided to cut out my two occasional indulgences.
No More Soda - I occasionally indulge myself with a diet coke as opposed to the water I usually drink. That’s not going to happen this month. No more diet coke, coke zero or whatever vehicle it is that I use to get caffeine into my body.
No More Candy - Chocolate or otherwise. No candy at all for a month.
I’m curious to see if this will cause me to feel deprived or if, after a month, I will simply forget about these things and adjust to doing without them. By the way, please note that I am NOT a believer in a life lived without pleasure. That is, I am not trying to deprive myself of everything that is good about life. I wholeheartedly believe in a life lived to the fullest. I want to live a life filled with happiness, joy and pleasure. I just want to know if these two habits are truly pleasurable or if they are simply things I have become accustomed to. In other words, are they a worthwhile indulgence or are they a distracting habit keeping me from better enjoyment of life’s other pleasures.
What about you? What’s one unhealthy habit you’ve told yourself you simply cannot do without? Are you sure about that? Have you tried? Why not give it a whirl for just 30 days and see how you do? That’s what I’m planning to do and I’ll give you all updates as the month goes along.
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Thank you to Body and Fitness blog for including a 60 in 3 article in their latest carnival of all things weight loss. And thank you to Fitbuff for doing the same in the latest Total Mind and Body carnival.
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No more soda! I like this one because I did this for several years. The cravings went completely away after about 3 months. After a while of not having it, I noticed that it tasted yucky. The acidity in soda (and most other caffeinated beverages) can cause more breakdown of lean tissues such as muscle and bone.
It reminds me of the time I moved my garbage can for 30 days as an experiment in habit. I kept going back to the same place at first. Towards the last couple of days, it was only every once in a while that I forgot where the new place to throw away trash was. I am interested to see how this goes for you.
hmm. thanks..
After read your post, I noticed that it tasted yucky…